SLLACC: “Where the Hell is James O’Barr?”

One of the more fascinating and insightful panels of Stan Lee’s L.A. Comic-Con 2017 was “Where the Hell is James O’Barr?”. O’Barr has has created and contributed to various comics, films, and television shows over the years, but his most famous project has to be his groundbreaking 1989 hit, “The Crow”. “The Crow” tells the story of Eric Draven, a young musician who is forced to watch his fiancé be gang raped and murdered before being murdered himself. Eric shortly thereafter rises from the grave to avenge his beloved by brutally torturing and killing all of his attackers.

The landmark graphic novel eventually spawned the hit 1994 film of the same name as well as three sequels and a television series. O’Barr shared some stories on the creation of the original book, saying he loosely based it upon the murder of his own fiancé and self-destructive behavior afterwards. He also mused on Hollywood and how he unfortunately received no residuals for the film version of “The Crow” due to the heads at Miramax leaving it out of his contract.

O’Barr also updated us on a few new comic projects of his including a “Crow” follow-up entitled “Murder Engines”, as well as a yet-to-be titled horror comic dealing with demonic forces. O’Barr also announced that he is currently working on a draft of the screenplay for the new “Crow” film reboot which is set to star Jason Momoa as the eponymous hero. Production is slated to begin early next year.